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ST. LOUIS (KTVI) - Terry Lynne Lawrence’s brutal murder has remained unsolved for almost eight years, but her mother isn’t giving up the fight.

“This was a death that wasn’t necessary,” said Dorothy Lyles, Terry’s mother. “It wasn’t mean to happen this way.”

Lawrence, then 42, was found beaten, raped, and left for dead in an abandoned building at Academy and Ridge on December 5, 2007. She was on her way to meet a counselor but never showed up to that meeting.

Her mother can still recall seeing her in the hospital.

“It’s just as fresh as if it did happen last year,” she said.

“When I first saw her, it was like everything in me just drained out. At the foot of the bed in the emergency room, it was like everything in me just came out.”

Lawrence hung on for four months until her body began to reject her feeding tube. Doctors ultimately recommended the tube be removed.

“The hardest thing was the burial, because that’s final…I can’t go. I can’t leave her here. I cannot leave her here,” Lyles said.

Police questioned several people, but no witnesses have come forward. CrimeStoppers is offering a $5,000 cash reward hoping that someone will change their mind and do the right thing.